if congress refuses to give the united states government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic. >> nbc's steve handelsman has been following the latest developments out of washington. >> reporter: the democrats and republicans up here on capitol hill, the president down at the white house, all know this may have been a magic moment. as tough as it looked, as awful as it looked to many in the u.s. and overseas, this might be the most cooperation we see on any taxes and spending dispute, at least in the next few months. just getting this far has been a long journey. president obama, who incidentally speaking of journeys came back here to washington for this fight and is already headed back to where he was which is a family vacation in hawaii. he campaigned for the better part of a year, won the presidency, promising tax hikes on individuals making $200,000 a year and more, and settled for double that, $400,000. congressional republicans have held the line for two decades on tax increases, yet a majority of republica